Seattle, Washington. Home of the CHAZ/CHOP. home of the former Lincoln Park, home of the current Cal Anderson Park—the same park, renamed in honor of Washington State’s first openly gay legislator: Cal Anderson.
Seattle, Washington. Home of “Black Lives Matter” flags, rainbow flags, and trans pride flags everywhere you look. The tolerant queer haven. Pronoun pins everywhere you look. Way better than all those backwards hickvilles out east. Way better than you, if you dare let your Midwest accent reveal yourself as an outsider. They’ll just ignore you then. Nobody cares.
Seattle, Washington. The first city where I heard it being acceptable for “comrades” to speak poorly of the homeless and addicted—an act which I was spanked over during my childhood upbringings in rural Kansas, South Carolina, and Indiana. You can talk shit about anyone who isn’t cis, straight and white, I was taught—but NEVER speak poorly on people who are clearly down on their luck. That’s a sin. Here, they are viewed as scum and a “blight,” not struggling working-class people. I’m homeless. My manager, using my correct pronouns, still told me to get to work on time because “lots of people who work here are homeless.” Nobody cares.
Seattle, Washington. The city where every single workplace complaint I’ve made has been immediately dismissed against the background of rampant classism and insidious transphobia. “We have the best minimum wage in the country, so why are you complaining?” Meanwhile, no studio on that same street goes for less than $1,000. Maybe $800 if you have the audacity to seek rent-controlled housing that will be immediately neglected as soon as it’s built. Neither is affordable once you factor in the rampantly rising costs everywhere you look. Nobody cares.
Seattle, Washington. Home of “if you don’t like it, why not just leave?” They say this to me as I drive 30 miles from Auburn each day to my part-time min wage job at the kennels. I don’t hate it, I love dogs! But I’m recovering from addiction (45 days clean), and my 15 years of experience and multiple college degrees mean nothing because I had the audacity to be unemployed for five months after surgery. Nobody cares.
Seattle, Washington. Home of /r/seattleWA, where literally all they do is celebrate the violent police sweeps of the homeless encampments. “They’re a blight on this beautiful city.” The home or CHAZ/CHOP. The home of Cal Anderson Park. The queer haven.
Seattle, Washington. The city where everybody’s your neighbor, but nobody’s your friend.